event , news , media

NASA called off  its attempt to launch the final voyage of the space shuttle Endeavour today (April 29) because of a malfunction in one of the spacecraft's critical power units.
Two heaters on one of Endeavour's auxiliary power units, which power hydraulics systems on the shuttle during its return to Earth, failed this morning, rendering the unit useless. Though Endeavour has a total of three units, NASA needs working spares of these critical systems.
"There's not a way to do the troubleshooting we need to do and stay in a countdown configuration," NASA spokesman George Diller said. "It will be at least a 48-hour scrub turnaround."
The next chance to launch Endeavour comes Sunday (May 1) at 2:59 p.m. EDT (1859 GMT) from Launch Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center. However, NASA must first troubleshoot the power unit failure before it can set a new launch date. [Photos: Shuttle Endeavour's Final Voyage]
"We will put together a troubleshooting plan," Diller said.
NASA called off today's launch at 12:19 p.m. EDT, after Endeavour was fully fueled and the astronauts were suited up in their bright orange launch and entry suits.
The launch delay likely disappointed the throngs of spectators that flooded the launch viewing sites around the Kennedy Space Center with hopes of seeing one of NASA's final space shuttle launches before the 30-year-old shuttle fleet is retired for good later this year. The space agency expected up to 750,000 spectators for Endeavour's launch.
Among the disappointed hopeful viewers of the launch are President Barack Obama and his family, who were planning to watch Friday's shuttle liftoff. There's no word yet on whether Obama will still attend the next launch attempt.

Turns out, the 8,000 journalists gathered in London to document the next generation of British royalty offered fairly reasonable, mostly gaffe-free performances, which communicated the majesty of the moment with a few necessary detours into gossip and fashion talk.
Until the ceremony ended.
Once the happy couple shared their public kiss — two of them, in fact, which Today show anchor Meredith Vieira unfortunately referred to as the "money shot" — the TV networks still covering the event descended into a morass of saccharine-sweet observations, inane interviews and space-gobbling fashion "analysis," living down to some critics' worst expectations.
Most TV outlets devoted to the event were into their continuous coverage efforts by 4 a.m. local time. One notable exception: CBS, which chose to air a re-broadcast of the 1981 wedding of Prince William's parents, Prince Charles and Lady Diana, and made it look like they couldn't convince departing anchor Katie Couric to get out of bed soon enough to start with everyone else.

CNN anchor Piers Morgan emerged as an early favorite, calling one wedding guest a notorious partier while noting that another male dignitary, arriving with a beautiful woman in a low-cut dress, was smiling so much because he was lucky to get an invitation. That's what happens when you hire a veteran of Britain's notorious Fleet Street tabloid newspaper industry as your color commentator.

Finally, Kevin Durant got the ball in crunch time for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Denver Nuggets. The result? Pure, unadulterated basketball nirvana. Durant scored 14 points in the final three and a half minutes and 41 for the game as the Thunder rallied from a nine-point deficit to beat the Nuggets and end that series in five games.
In a way, it's a sign that Durant needs to make all the late-game decisions every single game for the Thunder. Those who scoffed at Russell Westbrook's rogue act in Game 4 undoubtedly have more ammunition to bash the Thunder point guard now. See! Look what happens when Durant gets the ball!
That's too easy for me, though. Honestly, I think Durant showed growth as a crunch-time performer on Wednesday. Part of the problem with Durant late in games is that he's become a little passive this season. Last year, when the starpower of Westbrook wasn't quite where it was now, Durant took it upon himself to demand the ball. This year, though, that hasn't happened. Durant has been stymied by aggressive, physical defense, and he's given up the ball too often at the slightest hint of pressure.
Wednesday night's performance was a true joy, then, because we didn't see any of those negative characteristics. Sure, Durant shot all jumpers, and eventually, he'll need to be better at getting to the rim. But every shot he hit was as a result of a forceful decision. He didn't wait for the Nuggets to set up their defense on him; he attacked them before they could. When he does that, he's unstoppable, given his size and shooting ability. When he doesn't? He makes himself mortal.
Going forward, Durant will need that switch to be on permanently when his team needs it to be. No more deferring to Westbrook. It's time for the Durantula to strike.

Browns running back Peyton Hillis will grace the cover of “Madden NFL 12,” the latest edition of the popular video game series. He beat Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in the final, collecting 66 percent of the more than 1 million votes cast online.
The winner was announced Wednesday afternoon.
“I didn’t think I had a shot,” Hillis said on ESPN2. “Vick, I always looked up to him. Winning this means a lot to me and my family.”
Hillis was an unknown before a breakout season in 2010, his first with the Browns after being acquired in a trade for quarterback Brady Quinn. He totaled 1,667 yards and 13 touchdowns and became a fan favorite.
Northeast Ohio fans supported him throughout the 32-man bracket-style tournament. He opened as a No. 10 seed and pulled five upsets to win the cover.
Hillis beat Ravens running back Ray Rice in the first round, then Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In succession, Hillis received 62 percent of the vote, 51, 60 and 61.
“I gotta give all my fans (credit), if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have this right now,” he said. “It just shows how big Cleveland fans are to their players. I want to tell them thank you and I’m going to try my best for them.”
Earlier in the day, Hillis was proud just to be in the final.
“I’m a small-town country boy from Arkansas, working his way up from every level, just hoping to get a shot,” he said. “All this displayed is the American dream. It’s a true blessing and a real honor.”
Vick, who’s made a public-relations recovery following the dog fighting scandal, was gracious in defeat.
“It’s great for Peyton,” he said. “It shows he has a broad fan base. People admire what he do, he takes pride in what he do and he’s very deserving of the cover.”
Past stars on the “Madden” cover have been felled by injuries, inspiring the “Madden Curse.” Hillis isn’t buying.
“For people to believe in this so-called curse, I can’t wait to prove people wrong,” he told espn.com.

Grammy Award winning R&B/soul singer Jill Scott has revealed the album cover and release date for "The Light of The Sun". Revealed Wednesday, the album is Scott's first since 2007 and follows film and related efforts including Tyler Perry's 'Why Did I Get Married,' 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' and Sins of the Mother (Lifetime).

"I feel really honored and super blessed," Scott said on the set of 'The Mo'Nique Show' (BET) recently, citing an hour dedicated to new songs from the album. "The reaction today was filled with love... filled with appreciation. Like wow, folks like it. It's something else."

Whose idea could it have possibly been to choose Carole King songs for the six remaining contestants? How many would have even heard of Carole King? Perhaps Casey Abrams, because he's a little weird, but surely none of the other cheery little teens and boys not yet allowed to drink alcohol.
There again, this was an opportunity for the contestants to show just how creative, how original they could be. They even had famed producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edwards to help them prepare along with Jimmy Iovine. But there was a little extra difficulty. There are only six remaining, but the needs of selling commercial airtime meant the show had to last 90 minutes.
So they had to fill time. With what? Why, with duets.
First we had Jacob Lusk singing alone. "Oh, No, Not My Baby" was his song. Oh, no. He sang it 65 times in rehearsal. Sporting a striking ensemble of purplish check jacket, blue waistcoat, hangover-crashingly bright yellow shirt and even a purple bow tie, Lusk tried to infuse some jazzy soul and curiously hip-hop (well, more hop) dancing. But it all seemed to be a strain, quite understandably.
"It was about time you shook your tail-feathers," said Steven Tyler. "You're here because you're a great singer so hopefully America will give you some votes, so that you can stick around," said Randy Jackson.
Translation: Some hope, Jacob. You're in trouble.
They really set up Lauren Alaina. There she was in rehearsal singing away. She was given "Where You Lead, I Will Follow," a song of which surely no one aged 16 has ever heard, unless they happened to be a fan of "The Gilmore Girls," for which this song is the tune.
And then mentor Iovine brought in Miley Cyrus. Strange, given that, in a previous rehearsal, Iovine had told Alaina that she was a far better singer than Cyrus. Clearly Iovine is a man even the singers fear. Cyrus smiled, gushed and in her extraordinary smoky baritone told Alaina: "Just do it for yourself."

A TORNADO WATCH has been issued for several counties in our area. Darlington, Florence, Marlboro, Dillon, Chesterfield, Marion, Lee, Sumter, Clarendon, Willamsburg counties in South Carolina and Scotland, Robeson, and Richmond  in North Carolina are under a tornado watch until 12pm. This watch could be extended across the entire area into the afternoon.

A tornado watch means that conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes.
A system with a history of producing severe weather will be moving through the area today. While this system is much weaker than it has been over the past 2 days when it was producing a major outbreak of tornadoes,  it will bring the chance for severe storms to the area

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday forbade all state employee travel that is not "mission critical" to the operation of California government.

"Our fiscal challenges demand that we take a much closer look at how taxpayer dollars are being spent within state government," Brown said in a written statement accompanying his executive order. "Now is not the time to attend conferences, travel to meetings or take out-of-state field trips."

Some inspectors, auditors, tax collectors and others will still be allowed to crisscross the state. But travel deemed essential now must be approved by agency and department heads, Brown's order states. Out-of-state trips must receive approval from the governor's office.

Administration officials said they did not have an estimate on how much money the order would save, but said hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent annually on travel. It is not clear how much of that will be deemed essential. The governor's proposed budget already counts on uncovering $250 million in general fund savings from improved efficiency in state operations.
The executive order is the latest in a series of moves Brown has made to cut costs and build public support for his budget package. He has curbed car and cellphone privileges for government workers, imposed a hiring freeze and is trying to recover unrepaid salary advances and travel advances that have gone unaccounted for in recent years.

Needless to say, it looks absolutely epic.

As always, the CGI looks totally flawless, the action looks amazing, and the battle scenes look immense. Obviously this is no small-budget indie flick, and it seems like Warner Brothers have made every penny count.
Just LOOK at flamin' (literally) Hogwarts.

If you've read the books then you'll know that tension is at fever pitch for the last film; everything comes to a head, all those loose ends are tied up, and the battles are well and truly underway between Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and Harry and his gang of lovelies.
We can already tell it's going push us to the edge of our chocolate stained seats, and be the most exhilarating and exciting conclusion any film series has had in a long time.

We turn to celebrities for fitness inspiration all the time. From challenging celebrity workouts like The Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels’ 20-minute butt kicking routine to Madonna’s favorite class, barre3 to new gadgets like the ViPR. But it can be hard to keep up with new classes and challenging moves only a personal trainer can teach you. Luckily, the Total Gym (on sale for half price today!) is one piece of fitness equipment celebs are loving that can be used at home to tone the entire body. We hear Chuck Norris has been using the Total Gym for the last 30 years (is that how all Texas rangers stay in shape?), Wesley Snipes takes his Total Gym on location when he’s filming movies, and 63-year-old and fitter-than-ever Olivia Newton-John jumps on her Total Gym a few minutes every day. Here’s what two of our favorite fit females told us about their Total Gym. This may be one celebrity workout we can get behind!
Christie Brinkley who, at 56, has an amazing body has been using the Total Gym for 10 years. “I usually just jump on my Total Gym and do 15 minutes of my own little routine that I've developed. It gives me a little [workout for my] stomach, my arms, my upper body, and my lower body. It stretches and strengthens and then I'm out and about,” says Brinkley. If 15 minutes on the Total Gym helps Christie Brinkley look that good we’re willing to give it a try!

BIRMINGHAM families are facing the prospect of a return to rubbish-strewn streets after binmen threatened a fresh wave of strikes.
The spectre of more action was raised by union leaders who accused the city council of failing to deliver on pledges made as part of a deal which ended a dispute over changes to working practices and allowances.
Binmen were involved in a bitter row with managers which left mountains of rubbish piled high in the streets before they accepted a new contract last month. Residents in the worst-affected neighbourhoods saw bin bags left to rot for as long as six weeks as the walkout and last winter’s icy weather took their toll.
But union leaders yesterday claimed the council had broken parts of the deal understood to relate to shift allowances and overtime pay.
Unite regional office Lynne Shakespeare said: “This is incompetence of the highest order.
“If this agreement is not implemented, we shall be forced to meet with our membership again and possibly restart the strike action.The council has made no attempt to honour the agreement we all signed in March.
“It seems the council enjoys being in dispute and seeing tonnes of rubbish on the streets, especially during the summer. If the council did not want to reach an agreement, why did they make one with us? It seems to have been a complete waste of time.”
Binmen staged a one-day strike and imposed work-to-rule measures last December.
Hiring an army of casual staff to clear the backlog cost the city thousands of pounds.
More strikes were avoided in January after a verbal agreement and a deal was eventually ratified by two thirds of union members.
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “The council is fully committed to implementing the March agreement.
“Talk of further strike action is disappointing as the council is honouring its commitments and is engaged in a process to ensure employees’ contracts are changed by the correct legal process.”

Peyton Hillis has shocked the football world again.
A year after rushing for over 1,100 yards and collecting 11 touchdowns, the Cleveland Browns running back defeated 31 opponents to be named the 2012 Madden cover star.
“It means a lot to me and my family,” Hillis said of joining such Pro Bowlers as Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson as those that have been featured on the front of the video game. “I just want to say thank you.”

The one who's not one of us is Donald Trump - not Barack Obama.
Take him seriously, because he asks to be taken seriously about a profoundly serious matter: Trump says he's considering a run for President of the United States, and he helicoptered to New Hampshire in service of his cause.
He appears to believe he can ride the energy of those in the Republican Party who are dead certain Obama occupies the White House illegitimately in that, they are absolutely convinced, he was born elsewhere.
Take Trump seriously again: According to the polls, the birthers have swooned, and senior Republicans who ought to know a whole lot better have fanned the frenzy.
Like every burp and scratch on the modern political scene, Trump's declamations and Obama's release yesterday of his "long-form" State of Hawaii birth certificate will go up on the scoreboard of instant winners and losers in the Making of the President 2012.
Trump Tops Obama by Forcing Prez to Produce Birth Certificate He Owed the American Public.
Obama One-ups Trump, Casts Republicans as Crazy People By Good-naturedly Posting Certificate on the Internet.
It's a sad spectacle, one boding ill for the majority of Americans who are geared up for a debate over economic policy and the very role of the U.S. government and instead find themselves prisoners in Trump's la-la land.

DALLAS, Texas (AP) — Rev. David Wilkerson, founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City and author of the best-selling book, "The Cross and the Switchblade," has died. He was 79.
Wilkerson died Wednesday afternoon in a car accident in East Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said. Wilkerson's car smashed head-on into a tractor-trailer rig after veering into oncoming traffic on U.S. 175 west of Cuney, about 95 miles southeast of Dallas, Mange said.
Wilkerson founded the non-denominational Protestant Times Square Church in 1987 in an area of Manhattan that was then riddled with X-rated movie houses, strip clubs, prostitution and drugs. He also founded Teen Challenge, which uses a biblically based recovery program for drug addicts.
In "The Cross and the Switchblade" Wilkerson wrote about his early years in New York City administering to drug addicts and gang members. The 1963 book became a best-seller and was made into a movie starring Pat Boone.
His family confirmed his death in a statement posted on the website for Wilkerson's World Challenge Inc. ministries, saying he "went to be with Jesus."
"We appreciate your prayers and our hearts are sorrowful, yet we rejoice at the joy of knowing David Wilkerson spent his life well," the statement said.
Wilkerson was not wearing a seat-belt at the time of the crash, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. His wife, Gwendolyn, was also in the car and was wearing a seat-belt, Mange said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was in stable condition with cuts and bruises, Mange said.
Along with his wife, David Wilkerson is survived by four children.

Attorney General Chris Koster is going to federal court to block plans to open a Mississippi River levee in southeast Missouri.
Koster wants a court order telling the Corps of Engineers not to breach the Birds Point Levee, a 35-mile long levee between Birds Point and New Madrid County. The state says breaching the levee will flood more than 100,000 acres and will affect hundreds of Missourians.
The Attorney General’s Office says the suit will be filed at 1 p.m., which is also when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Memphis is set to meet with the Mississippi River Commission to make a decision whether to blow out the levee.

If the rumors are true, the elusive white iPhone will finally go on sale sometime tomorrow. There's nothing special about it except that it's white. No new features, no more storage space -- aside from the color of its case and home button, the white iPhone 4 will be exactly the same as the black iPhone 4. But the thrill of something new -- after all, Mac (Apple) users are more likely than PC users to say that they want to be "perceived as unique and different to make my mark," according to a Hunch infographic -- could boost sales of the product.
With the launch of the iPhone 5 delayed until September, sales of the white iPhone 4 will be appreciated by Apple executives who know that, following a remarkable first quarter earnings report, they don't have much in the pipeline to top themselves. iPod sales have been down for some time, the refresh of MacBook Pro line is in the past and most people who want one of the new iPad 2s have already purchased one. This technical glitch -- there was a problem with the paint and the white iPhone 4 couldn't be released nearly a year ago when it was originally scheduled -- could be a great accidental move by Apple.
But will people really go out and snatch up white iPhone 4s when most everybody (it seems) already has a black one that does the exact same thing? Yes. I'm sure of it.
And at least one prominent analyst agrees with me. "In our view, the purchase of consumer electronic devices is not always a completely rational decision, and people buy Apple products for many different reasons, including status, aesthetics, functionality, quality and the 'cool factor,'" Ticonderoga analyst Brian White told All Things Digital. "The delayed launch of a white iPhone has created a certain mystique around the product, and we believe certain demographics will find the product appealing. As such, we expect incremental iPhone 4 purchases due to this launch, driven by replacements, upgrades and/or new iPhone 4 purchases."
And don't forget about those that don't yet have an iPhone. You have one and your mom has one, but that doesn't mean the market is saturated. Consider this: Over the first quarter of 2011, Apple managed to sell more than 200,000 iPhones every single day. There are still a lot of customers for the company's popular smartphone. Perhaps many of those who want to join the Apple ranks but were waffling -- should I buy one now or wait for the iPhone 5? Five months sounds like an awfully long time -- will be nudged to act now by the glossy new gadget.
Purchasing a white iPhone 4 could bring you more than status. It could be a smart financial move. With fewer flooding the market, it's possible that the white iPhones will fetch more than their black counterparts on the resale market. And there's no guarantee that a white iPhone 5 will be available -- or even a black one. While Apple finalizes the design plans for the next iteration of its popular smartphone, tech blogs have been trying to get their hands on a prototype or even just sketches. One source from Foxconn, Apple's manufacturing partner in China, has said that, with the iPhone 5, Apple will return to a metallic look, bringing in an all-metal case. No white, no black.

The Kentucky Derby has Questionable Early Favorites With Less Than Two Weeks From Race Day
The greatest spectacle in horse racing is just around the corner and a few horses are going into the Kentucky Derby on May 7th with very high expecations.

Pletcher's filly R Heat Lightning won this month's Gulfstream Oaks by 8¼ lengths, finishing the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:49.27. That was about a second better than the time posted the next day on the same track by Dialed In, who could be the favorite at post time of the Kentucky Derby, in the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby.
Pace and quality of the field can certainly affect finish times, making race-to-race comparisons difficult. But R Heat Lightning is one of only three 3-year-olds to record a triple-digit Beyer speed figure—a closely watched formula that handicappers use to compare horses in different races—in a race longer than a mile this year.

We're not making this one up, check the dates. Keiji Inafune, the former Capcom director famous for his work on a number of Capcom's flagship series, is making a rather surprising cameo in Compile Heart's upcoming RPG Super Dimension Game Neptune mk-II.
The in-game version of Inafune has access to "Donnahandanda Nova", best described as a mouth fired laser beam based on an Inafune meme, and "Creator Sword Inafune", a sword shaped like Inafune folding his arms. Buried in this insanity was a Japanese release date of August 18 2011 for PS3. No news yet if the Inafune Sword, or the game, will make an appearance overseas.

An Australian family must have been frantic when their toddler wandered away on a beach in Australia. Little did they know that the dingo stole their baby. Fraser Island in Queensland state is not only a popular tourist beach and destination, it is also home to some 200 wild dogs called dingoes. Two of these dogs apparently attacked the 3 year old toddler when she wandered away from her family and was bitten on her legs and mauled by the wild dogs which are now on Australia’s protected animals list.
According to CTV News, dingoes rarely attack humans, however, they have been known to attack children. In 2001, a young boy, 9 years old, was killed by a group of dingoes. Because the wild dogs can feel threatened by children, the Australian environmental preservation department has felt pressure from Australian visitors to overhaul their protection of the animals and educate the public on public safety as it relates to the dingoes. Australia has responded by issuing public warnings to the general public. They ask that people refrain from feeding dingoes and that children be kept in close watch in areas where dingoes roam. Apparently, children make dingoes extremely anxious. People need to remember, they are wild animals, even if they look like common house-pets.
The two dingoes who officials believe to be responsible for the baby’s attack were subsequently caught and destroyed.

Marriage proposals in ballparks have become fairly common, usually with fans popping the question on scoreboards. So have adoring fans holding up signs hoping against hope their favorite player might respond.
But a Brewers fan -- or more specifically a Ryan Braun fan -- took it one step further last weekend. Her plan worked because it actually elicited a response from Braun, but backfired when the idea of including her cell phone number on her sign led to so many calls that Braun couldn't get through.The fan, who said her name is Robin, got TV time and more publicity than she bargained for. Braun, who tried to call after the game, said, "I guess it wasn't meant to be."
He didn't say what his response would have been, but Braun does have a girlfriend -- not to mention a contract extension that guarantees him $145 million over the next 10 years.

When Texas congressman Ron Paul announces his presidential exploratory committee later today, it will inevitably spark a discussion about whether the Republican will be able to convert his enthusiastic support into votes in the 2012 primaries.
Paul previously has run twice for president: In 1988, as the Libertarian Party nominee, and then in 2008 for the GOP nomination eventually won by Arizona Sen. John McCain.
The last time around, Paul won 24 delegates during the primaries and finished a distant fourth to McCain (behind Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee) in the count, according to an Associated Press tally.
Paul set fundraising records with his ability to bring in big bucks through the Internet, something that President Obama also did in the 2008 race. At one point, Paul even joked he had so much money coming in, he was trying to figure out how to spend it all.
In February, for the second year in a row, Paul won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference of GOP activists. He beat out former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is leading recent presidential polls by McClatchy Newspapers, NBC/Wall Street Journal and Pew Research Center.
Speaking of polls, Paul generally falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. In the latest Gallup Poll, the Texas congressman tied with Newt Gingrich with 6% support from Republicans -- better than Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann, with 4%.
And when it comes to the issues that drive a campaign, Paul has advocated less federal spending and reducing the debt in his 12 years in Congress. He has been outspoken in recent months about U.S. involvement abroad, especially in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, says more people will listen to Paul these days because of his stance on fiscal issues. But Paul's would need help from socially conservative voters in early presidential nominating states such as Iowa and South Carolina if he's going to do better than he did in 2008.
"He is a second-tier candidate," Jillson says. "He's more in the middle of the debate than he has traditionally been, but he's still an outlier in the Republican Party."

SANTA CLARA, CA and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 04/26/11 -- Tensilica®, Inc. today announced that it is the first audio IP (intellectual property) core supplier to be awarded DTS® Broadcast and DTS DMP (Digital Media Player) certification. The certification, achieved using fully optimized software implementation on Tensilica's HiFi 2 and HiFi EP Audio DSP (digital signal processor) IP cores, provides developers of SOCs (system on chips) with a proven solution that reduces the time to market for new, fully compliant designs. Tensilica was also the first IP core supplier to be certified for DTS-HD Master Audio™ in September of 2009.
Tensilica is the number one supplier of audio IP cores with significant design wins in home entertainment systems that integrate DTS' outstanding audio technology and in smartphones for audio and voice codecs and pre-and post-processing. The HiFi Audio DSP is designed into some of the most advanced, innovative consumer devices including HDTVs, smartphones, home entertainment receivers, digital set-top boxes (STBs), digital/HD radios, and Blu-ray Disc™ players. The HiFi Audio DSP's industry leading performance is unequalled by any other IP core providers. For example, even in the most challenging Blu-ray Disc use-cases, where DTS-HD Master Audio is processed by a single Tensilica core, there remains room to spare for significant audio pre/post processing. Additionally, there's room to spare in audio subsystems with significant memory latency.

The soaking continues from Arkansas northeast through Missouri and on to the Ohio River Valley.
In Poplar Bluff, Mo., "a levee keeping a swollen river from inundating a southeast Missouri town cracked in at least one place Tuesday," The Associated Press reports.
As the Springfield, Mo., News-Leader writes, "around the region, waves of thunderstorms pummeled northern Arkansas and southwest Missouri, dropping more than a foot of rain in some places over the past four days."
At least seven people were killed in Arkansas on Monday, when powerful storms — including some tornadoes — swept through the state. According to the AP, "the deaths from Monday's storms bring this month's storm-related death toll in Arkansas to 14. And forecasters said another bout of bad weather was expected to hammer the state Tuesday afternoon."
Vilonia, Ark., was especially hard hit yesterday.
From Murray, Ky., our colleagues at WKMS are tracking the damage from storms in their The Front Blog. They're reporting hundreds of uprooted trees, numerous downed power lines and quite a bit of damage to buildings.

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler finally came through in the clutch -- for once -- and popped the question to his MTV starlet GF Kristin Cavallari this weekend ... and apparently, she said yes.


According to People.com, 27-year-old Cutler proposed to the 24-year-old actress (?) during their weekend getaway to Cabo San Lucas.

The two have been dating since last fall.

Chris Paul would apparently hit anyone if he's playing against them in basketball, even his mother.
The Hornets star had an awesome performance in Game 4 against the Lakers, recording a triple-double and scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter. The all-star guard battled Kobe throughout the entire game and after it was all over, TNT's Cheryl Miller asked Paul what it was like to get physical with the five-time champion.
"He would do me the same way. It's all in fun, but it's our livelihood," he said. "I don't care if my mother was on the court. I'd hit her, too."
Paul scored scored 27 points and as Avinash Kunnath of SB Nation pointed out, he had just as many rebounds as Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined.

 

 

 

 

An undated file photo shows Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly.

The Arizona congresswoman still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head has been cleared by doctors to travel to Cape Canaveral to watch the launch of Endeavour, which husband Mark Kelly is commanding.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to attend her husband's space shuttle launch in Florida on Friday, he said, in what will be the Arizona congresswoman's first excursion since she was flown to Houston more than three months ago to recover from a gunshot wound to the head.

In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric, husband Mark E. Kelly said Giffords' doctors had given her permission to go to Kennedy Space Center for the launch of Endeavour, which Kelly is commanding.

CBS released excerpts of the interview, which is scheduled to air Monday on the "CBS Evening News," according to a network statement.

"I've met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon … and they've given us permission to take her down to the launch," Kelly said in the interview.

James Hartsfield, spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, referred all questions about Giffords to the congresswoman's office.

President Obama and the first family also are scheduled to watch the launch, although it's unclear if they will watch with Giffords.
It will be the first time Giffords has traveled since she was flown from Tucson to Houston on Jan. 21 for rehab. The Democrat was shot in the head Jan. 8 as she was holding a community outreach event in the parking lot of a Tucson shopping center.

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack and is in custody. Six people were killed and 13 wounded, including Giffords.

She has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing — as part of musical therapy — asking for her favorite foods and visiting with family, friends and her rabbi.

Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife's bedside.

Giffords went to Kelly's last launch in 2008 when he commanded space shuttle Discovery. The two married in 2007.

Earlier, a report in the Arizona Republic said the congresswoman was planning to "walk a mountain" when she returned to Tucson.

Nurse Kristy Poteet said Giffords pushes a cart up and down the hospital halls as therapy, focusing on using the correct muscles. More therapy comes from games of bowling and indoor golf.

Her physicians place her in the top 5% of patients recovering from her type of brain injury, the Arizona Republic said.
"She shows a lot more independence right now," said Dr. Gerard Francisco, chief medical officer at Houston's Memorial Hermann rehabilitation institute, who works with her daily. "She's her own person."

Those close to Giffords told the Republic that she speaks most often with a single word or declarative phrase: "love you," "awesome."

She longs to leave the rehab center, repeating, "I miss Tucson." When that day comes, Giffords told Poteet she plans to "walk a mountain."

The Orlando Magic's playoff shooting struggles continued as they fell into a 3-to-1 series hole against the Atlanta Hawks.

The Magic were just 2-for-23 from three-point range in Sunday's Game 4. According to Elias, the 8.7 percent made from three-point range was the worst in a playoff game in NBA history, minimum 20 attempts. For the series, Orlando is shooting just 21.9 percent from deep. The Magic shot 36.6 percent during the regular season.

While this would be crushing to any team, it's even more so to the Magic who relied on the three-point shot more than any team in the NBA this season. During the 2010-11 campaign Orlando scored 28.4 percent of its points off three point field goals and averaged over nine made three's per game.

In its four games against the Hawks the Magic are averaging just over five three-point field goals per contest. That's not going to get it done. Orlando's perimeter game in general struggled Sunday as the Hawks outscored the Magic 48-to-16 on field goal's from 15-plus feet from the basket. Atlanta shot 46.7 percent from that range while Orlando struggled.

The main culprits for the Magic were Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson who combined to go 1-for-14 from beyond that distance.
Yet in crunch time the Magic still went to Turkoglu who missed a potential game-tying three as time expired. He finished 2-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-6 from three.

While the rest of his teammates struggled, Dwight Howard continued his strong play on the inside. He finished with 29 points and 17 rebounds doing most of his damage on post-up plays.

He has averaged 20.7 points per game on post-up plays in the playoffs, and in Game 4 video footage showed he scored 20 of his 29 points on such plays. 17 of those points came in the second-half.

However this series has proved it takes more than one player to win in the postseason. Orlando may have found a potential supporting cast member for Howard in Gilbert Arenas who came off the bench to score 20 points in Game 4.

Entering Sunday, Arenas hadn’t contributed much against Atlanta in the first round playoff series. However, he sparked Orlando in Game 4 as a pick-and-roll ball handler, scoring 13 of his 20 points in that fashion.

Still while Arenas was good off the bench, Hawks' reserve Jamal Crawford continued to be even better as he led Atlanta with 25 points.

Crawford is just the third player in the last 20 seasons to score 20 points off the bench in four consecutive playoff games in a single postseason.

He joined Nick Van Exel for the Mavericks in 2003 and Kevin McHale of the Celtics in 1991 as the only players to do so. Neither of those players was able to do it in five straight.

Crawford is now averaging 24.0 points per game this postseason, the highest average for any bench player in a single postseason over the last 15 seasons.

IT'S difficult now to envisage Jason Donovan as a teen idol, but he certainly makes a perfectly stiff-upper-lip Captain Georg von Trapp in the perennially popular The Sound of Music, playing in The Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin until next Saturday, April 30.
The place has been packed to the rafters for the last few weeks for this very slick London production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic including Maria, My Favourite Thing, Do-Re-Mi, Sixteen Going on Seventeen, So Long, Farewell, Edelweiss and ending with Climb Ev'ry Mountain -- when the audience last Monday rose for a spontaneous standing ovation.
While it could have been seen as corny in parts, the Dublin audience lapped up this mixture of semi-religious sentiment because it was The Sound of Music. There wasn't a cynical thought in the house for the entire evening.
Although Jason Donovan (who we all know began his career with Kylie Minogue) was the star name, he played his role with understated authority, while Philippa Buxton played a gushing, flighty Maria, the nun sent from the convent to mind the regimental Von Trapp children.
Martin Callaghan got the laughs as the roguish impresario Max who signs up the children for the Salzburg concert that leads to their escape from the Nazis.
The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II is based on a book by the real Maria Von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, and was first performed on Broadway in 1959. It subsequently became the Academy Award-winning film The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer which came out in 1965, and it's been happily playing to theatre and cinema audiences ever since.

The "'Treme' explained" posts are intended as an episode-by-episode guide to the many unexplained New Orleans references in the second season of HBO’s "Treme."
This post contains spoilers.
It also contains a lot of information and links that might help viewers of the series better understand the show’s characters and stories, as well as the city and time period in which it’s set.
File your own review of the episode, which debuted April 24, 2011, here. If you have an explanatory note to supplement this post, file it in the comments section below. 
For starters, review a comprehensive archive of the Times-Picayune’s Katrina coverage, including an animated map of the levee failures. In addition, these books, links, CDs, DVDs and streams might prove helpful. Also, go deep into the musical culture celebrated throughout "Treme" at www.AmericanRoutes.org. The website for Nick Spitzer's American Public Media radio series, produced in New Orleans, has a searchable archive, and holds hundreds of hours of informative, pleasurable listening.
The episode's title is "Accentuate the Positive," a song (title: "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive") written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer in the 1940s. It's heard twice during the episode, first in a club performance by John Boutte and others, then under the closing credits. 
The episode's teleplay was written by series co-creator Eric Overmyer. The story is by Overmyer and Anthony Bourdain, author and TV host. The episode was directed by executive producer Anthony Hemingway.

When I was in seventh grade, the youth minister at our church introduced me to the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

With its rock beat, humanized biblical characters and alternative take on the traditional Easter story, it was an instant hit among our junior-high crowd.This Easter week, as is our wont, my wife and I will pull out our “Superstar” DVD, pop it into the PlayStation, and watch Jesus, Judas, Pontius Pilate, King Herod, Mary Magdalene, Simon Zealotes, Caiaphas and all the rest tell their tale on the stark desert landscape.

One “Superstar” scene always reminds me of our entitlement society—and how some react to the notion of helping “the least among us.”

Fed up with moneychangers at the temple, Jesus is wandering alone, talking to God, when a group of needy people appears. One after another, they reach out, begging for help, and singing:See my eyes, I can hardly see.

See me stand, I can hardly walk.

I believe you can make me whole.

See my tongue, I can hardly talk.

See my skin, I’m a mass of blood.

See my legs, I can hardly stand.

I believe you can make me well.

See my purse, I’m a poor, poor man.

Will you touch, will you mend me Christ?

Won’t you touch, will you heal me Christ?

Will you kiss, you can cure me Christ?

Won’t you kiss, won’t you pay me Christ?

Jesus being Jesus, he tries to help. But soon, he’s overwhelmed by the mass of humanity.

“There’s too many of you,” he sings. “Don’t push me. There’s too little of me. Don’t crowd me.” Until, finally, he shrieks, “Heal yourselves!”
Now, we can save for another day a theological discussion on the merits or demerits of a biblical rock musical.

But whatever the religious interpretation, that scene smacks of what we’re hearing from pols and pundits about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, health insurance, food stamps, defense spending, foreign aid, public education, public radio, pregnancy prevention, environmental protection, budget-cutting, debt limits, tax cuts, etc., ad nauseum.

And with their focus not on public need, but on taxpayer expense, the budget-cutters, in particular, seem to be screaming, “Heal yourselves!”

But is that the best way to sell these ideas?

Two decades ago, President George H.W. Bush called for “a kinder, gentler nation.”

While tax-cutting may be kinder and gentler for wealthy people today, and while budget-cutting is promoted as beneficial to future generations, there’s nothing kind or gentle about saying to those in need: “We’re cutting you off,” or “We’re cutting you back” and “Fend for yourselves”—especially without explaining how.

So, in addition to, “We have to live within our means” and “Heal yourselves,” I’d be more receptive if the budget-cutters would explain the alternative.

For example: If we blow up Medicare as we know it—including its relatively low administrative costs—how will it be more efficient to run 50 separate programs in 50 separate states—and will that cost less than the current system?
If proposed Medicare-replacing federal block grants aren’t sufficient to cover the cost of 50 separate programs, how will fixed-income seniors make up the difference?

If we stop being the world’s cop and also cut back on foreign aid, in what new ways will we fulfill the government’s obligation to “provide for the common defense” in an increasingly dangerous world—and will that cost less than preventive measures?

If we stop funding Planned Parenthood, can we count on moms, dads, churches, schools, hospitals and other organizations to handle sex education, pregnancy prevention, Pap smears, breast-cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease prevention and women’s health services? What if disease escalates as a result of these cutbacks? Who will cover the cost—and will it cost less than preventive measures?

What’s more, if cutbacks in sex education and birth control result in more unwanted pregnancies, who will help families in poverty raise their kids, pay for their education and keep them off the dole? And will it cost less than preventive measures?

If Environmental Protection Agency cutbacks result in higher cleanup costs or higher disease rates for future generations, who will pay—and will it cost less than preventive measures?

If we slash funding for smoking-cessation programs and see more lung cancer, heart disease, asthma, emphysema and other illnesses as a result, who will pay—and will it cost less than preventive measures?

If we fail to reform financial regulations and that triggers another job-killing recession, who will help us recover—and will it cost less than preventive measures?

We don’t know the answers to such questions, because the only things we hear from budget-slashers are latter-day versions of “no room at the inn” and “heal yourselves.”

Where I learned about the resurrection and the life, that’s not what Jesus would do.•

No matter how long his career lasts, he probably will never score a more important goal than his backhander of a rebound 15 minutes, 30 seconds into overtime of Game 6 against the Vancouver Canucks. It gave the defending Stanley Cup champions a 4-3 victory to force a seventh game in the first-round series they had trailed 3-0.

"60 Minutes" producer Michael Karzis is the perfect tour guide to take you behind the scenes on the show's Mt. Athos story. Karzis is the son of Greek immigrants and speaks Greek. Those things surely helped as he and fellow producer Harry Radliffe tried to get permission to film a "60 Minutes" story on the otherworldly Mt. Athos, a self-governed peninsula in Greece that's home to 20 monasteries and some 2,000 monks.

But getting permission was no easy task. "The parliament that exists there, the holy community, is the only parliament on the face of the Earth that has been continually in session since the 10th century," says Karzis. "And these are the guys we were looking to get permission from to shoot on Mount Athos."

The Holy Community turned down requests from "60 Minutes." "They said, 'Thank you very much but, get in line,' Karzis recalls. "I mean, the BBC's been knocking on the door for 40 years, the French, the Germans, they've all wanted to come."

They then appealed to the powerful abbots who run individual monasteries on Mt. Athos and finally had a breakthrough.
Watch part one and part two of Bob Simon's report.
"We just built trust," says Karzis. "And they understood that we would do our best to distill the essence of monastic life, the beauty of the place, and what makes Mt. Athos unique in this world."

Once Karzis and Radliffe got their invitation, many more challenges were to come, as you'll learn in this "60 Minutes Overtime" travelogue. It's located in Europe, but Mt. Athos is remarkably difficult to access. The peninsula is only reachable by boat and the surrounding seas can be rough. It's believed that the Virgin Mary herself was shipwrecked there, which is just one of the many things that makes Mt. Athos so sacred to the monks and the thousands of pilgrims who visit each year.

You say Easter (or any holiday), and I say, I'll bring the green bean casserole. Not because it's one of my favorite dishes to prepare, but because I must eat it on every holiday and want to make sure it's served. It's tradition, and it's good.
 Sure some may eschew and mock it as not being fancy enough fare, but you know they all secretly love it.  Of course, there are ways to make it beyond the whole condensed soup and canned onions method to please a more sophisticated palette. Here are six alternative recipes for green bean casserole to please almost any eater.

Keenan Cahill, 16,( right) of suburban Chicago, performs with Jeremih Felton at Manor nightclub in Chicago. When he was 13, Cahill started making videos of himself lip-syncing to popular songs and posting them on YouTube. He now gets millions of hits and has become a YouTube sensation who also makes appearances with celebrities to promote their songs. He's also made commercials for Juicy Fruit gum and Smartwater.

I recently tried downloading a program for burning CDs (sorry forgotten the name but found it on your site) Because the downloading suddenly changed to Spanish I aborted. However I think MSN became involved in the download and I now have SweetIM to contend with. I have used Spybot and have been able to remove all but 9 entries because it says it's “in memory". Any ways you might suggest to get rid of SweetIM?
Aunty Says:
Not entirely sure how this has happened Colin but you should be able to remove it through ‘Control Panel’ and ‘Add Remove Programs’. Follow this with a Ccleaner cleanup and you should be OK. SweetIM is not generally considered as spyware so maybe Spybot isn’t quite sure what to do with the remaining entries.

Eddie via email asks:
 Hi Aunty, I have been having problems with Windows Live Essentials which I managed to remove after looking for remedies on line. I have also downloaded Internet Explorer9 for Windows7 but now I seem to have lost video player as I can't play the video clips on MSN home page or YouTube, do you have an answer for this problem?
Aunty Says:
Hello Eddie. You will have to make sure both IE (Internet Explorer) and Flash Player are the 32 bit versions. For some reason Adobe have delayed the release of the 64 bit version even though 64 bit IE was shipped with Vista and Windows7. It is possible that simply downloading the latest Flash Player from adobe.com will resolve the problem but you may need to downgrade to the 32 bit IE9 as well.
Roger via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I enjoy your column and find the info very useful. Now I have a problem I hope you can help me with, I have a Dell laptop running on XP and have used AVG free for years with no problems. I have AVG 2011 and when I came back after having been away for ten days I started computer and tried to update AVG and have now been trying for three days. The updates download OK but they will not install. I get a window saying “update  failed, invalid binary update file”. I have looked at the AVG help centre but it was no help at all.
Aunty Says:
The first thing to check Roger is that you don’t have any nasty spyware or virus on your laptop. Run Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and try the AVG updates again. As you are on a dialup connection it’s also quite possible that some the updates files have been corrupted during the download and may have left some remnants which are stopping the newer updates from installing properly. Running Ccleaner may remove any old update files that are causing problems. You can also download and update these AVG files manually, but we’ll try that if we need to.

Stars: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Mark Sheppard, William Morgan Sheppard, Stuart Milligan
Writer: Steven Moffat
Director:  Toby Haynes
Network: BBC America, airs Saturday nights
Original Telecast: April 23, 2011
As DOCTOR WHO begins Series 6, Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) have taken a brief break from travel with the Doctor (Matt Smith) to set up house and begin married life, but their respite is interrupted when they’re summoned along with River Song (Alex Kingston) and an elderly man named Canton Everett Delaware III (W. Morgan Sheppard) to rendezvous for a picnic in Utah. There they witness a horrific murder, but they have to keep quiet about it when the Doctor finally turns up to join them for a trip back to 1969. Who is the little girl calling President Nixon every day? Who are the mysterious figures that no one can remember seeing? What is the alien ship from last year’s “The Lodger” doing in a subterranean tunnel in Florida? And who is the Impossible Astronaut?
Although the new version of DOCTOR WHO that debuted in 2005 settled quickly into the more modern genre television convention of telling a longer-form story over the course of an entire series (season here in the US, folks) while providing individual adventures throughout – the fabled “story arc” fans are always so eager to puzzle over and theorize about before the big two-part revelatory finale at the end of each year’s run – this time it’s a bit different.
When show runner Steven Moffat took over last year with Series 5, initiating many changes in the popular show including a new Doctor, new companions, new TARDIS, new theme tune, new Daleks (um, never mind), and much more, he also threw out the old rule book that said “Thou shalt devise a story arc that lasts one year.” Given his penchant for time-twisting, logic-defying storytelling, Moffat instead planned a two-year arc that used Series 5 as a sort of Act One set-up for this year’s Act Two. If we factor in that we’re finally about to learn the true identity of frequent companion and mystery woman River Song, then technically this arc has been building since Moffat’s two-part contribution to Series 4  in 2008, “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.” But what’s a few years to a wandering Time Lord?
That might be the reason why this series opener feels even more scattershot than most first parts of two-part stories, and indeed less like a series debut than perhaps it should. It’s not only a place-holder to move all the pieces into position for the second installment, it’s also the mid-point between all the mysteries still lingering from last year and their hoped-for solutions. So there’s lots of travel to various locations, some stunning American vistas, excellent dialogue, and a creepy new alien creature, but not a lot happening until the closing moments.
The episode also depends upon a supposedly “shocking” gambit which holds no dramatic tension whatsoever. Does any viewer really expect the death of the Doctor to remain unaltered? It’s not remotely a question of whether this is resolved, but how, and since that inevitably means some sort of cheat or change in the timeline as we’ve now seen it, it’s not all that troubling. And following the fake-out regeneration of Series 4, there’s also the danger of turning one of the series’ lynchpin pieces of mythology into a cheap trick, like the cat that always leaps through the window in a horror movie.
But what’s good? Well, a lot really. The cinematography is excellent, with the sun-drenched Monument Valley scenes balanced by the dank shadows of the aliens’ lair. Everyone in the episode is great, especially Mark Sheppard as a version of Bill Filer (see the classic episode “The Claws of Axos”) with a slightly better if still hoarse accent. And credit must go to Karen Gillan (or perhaps the writing and/or directing), because after having lots of problems with her character and performance last year, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Amy in this episode is far more grounded and likable, as she should be given the ending of Series 5. Let’s hope that’s a sign of things to come.
Murray Gold’s music is beautiful, particularly during the opening picnic sequence and its aftermath, there were a few visual nods to classic tales like “Logopolis” and “The Ambassadors of Death,” and even the Fifth Doctor’s catchphrase “Brave heart” is recycled by Matt Smith in a lovely touch. The much-vaunted American settings seem to be featured more next time, but the location shooting and Oval Office is excellent, and the show even resists going for too many obvious anti-American jokes apart from one minor if warranted jab at the US’ trigger-happy tendencies.
Finally, although the Silence is perhaps a bit too well lit in a few scenes and benefit more from darkness, the killing of a hapless White House staffer was one of the more disturbing deaths in DOCTOR WHO history. Hopefully it sends more than a few children and adults behind the sofa.

The guest list to the royal wedding has been released, shedding light on the lucky few who will be in attendance as Prince William marries Kate Middleton on 29 April.
Clarence House has confirmed that Joss Stone has been invited, after she became friends with the princes when she performed at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in 2007.
Guy Ritchie, "a friend of Prince William and Miss Middleton", is on the list, as are Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson, adventurer Ben Fogle and socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.
Photographer Mario Testino, who took the first official photos of the couple following their engagement, has also received an invite, as has Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, who became friends with Wills when he visited Australia in 2010.
David and Victoria Beckham and Elton John will also be at Westminster Abbey for the nuptials, along with dozens of royals, heads of states, religious leaders and politicians.
Sarah Ferguson is the most notable absentee; her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and  will attend with her ex-husband Prince Andrew.

"I've had so many chances, but this time it's really working out. I'm a little more focused than I was in the past," he said.
This weekend, he was part of a team of chefs from DC Central Kitchen who are busy boiling 6,000 eggs for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
After many failed attempts to get clean and hold a steady job, Ragsdale applied to DC Central Kitchen's Culinary Job Training program. He's one of hundreds of chefs who have graduated from the program, which is geared toward helping formerly incarcerated and homeless adults get back on their feet.
"It makes you feel good to know that you're a part of an organization that does so many good things for the community and to be recognized by the White House, you know it doesn't get much better than that. It makes me feel good that I can be a part of something of this magnitude."
This is third year that students and graduates of DC Central Kitchen's job training program have helped to prepare the White House Easter Egg Roll, which is hosted by President Obama and the first lady.
The kitchen serves about 5,000 meals a day, 365 days a year to those in need in the DC area. But the 16-week job training program has been at its core for nearly 20 years, spokesman Bryan MacNair said.
Graduates of the program, which boasted an 80% job placement rate in 2009, move on to work at restaurants, hotels and convention centers. The program equips students with culinary and sanitation skills, but "really, 40 or 50 percent are life skills," MacNair said.
"There's a camaraderie, a community of men and women working next to each other and really feeling that their lives are changing," he said "Men and women come here and leave as different people."
Dwain Arrington is another chef who is thriving in the program. It's the first job he has held after spending 12 years in prison for weapons possession. Here, he feels like people understand him, and he takes pride in their collective accomplishments.
"A lot of folks went through my similar situation and perhaps worse. They told me their stories and how they overcame their adversity. I just stuck with it. They saw something in me that I didn't see. They offered me the position and I stuck with it, grew like a family, things worked out good," he said.
Ragsdale says the best feeling for him is to give back to a community he took so much from in troubled times.

On Easter Sunday, Christians around the world mark the end of Lent and commemorate the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you are looking for opportunities to worship or are unsure of what time your church is holding services, take a look at the list below. If you know of any services we've overlooked, please post a comment below the article and we'll be sure to add the information.

When Prince William and Kate Middleton become husband and wife Friday, there will be much pomp and circumstance and very few surprises.

The bride will walk down the aisle on her father's arm at 11 a.m. (6 a.m. in New York) to exchange vows with her boyfriend of eight years in front of about 1,900 invited guests and a television audience of up to 2 billion worldwide.

Kate's dress remains a closely guarded secret, but William is expected to follow tradition and wear his military uniform for the occasion. The prince is a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force.

The hourlong Anglican service will be overseen by the Dean of Westminster, John Hall. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will actually marry the pair.


Prince William will give his bride a wedding band made from a chunk of gold from the Clogau St. David's mine in North Wales.

The ring will be brought to the altar by William's brother, Prince Harry, the best man.

But William will not receive a ring from Kate.
"It was something the couple discussed, but Prince William isn't one for jewelry. He doesn't even wear a signet ring — and decided he didn't want to," a royal aide said. "It really is just down to personal preference."

Peter Lucas Moses Jr. collected a cast of women over the past six years, rekindling a high school flame and romancing others he met in Durham and as far away as Colorado.

With them, he patched together what some would call a sordid family. He fathered children with the women who could have them and kept his growing brood under lock and key. The women pulled farther and farther away from their own families and into Moses' grasp, relatives of the women said.

For five years, Moses, 27, and a handful of women and their children bounced from apartment to apartment in Durham and Colorado, chased by eviction notices or fear of getting in trouble with police.Now, Moses is in serious trouble. He's charged with kidnapping, assault and threatening a girlfriend with a gun; another of his girlfriends, Vania Sisk, is facing a marijuana charge.

But police are trying to build a much bigger case: They are searching for the bodies of two people they believe Moses and Sisk killed.

In February, a police officer's knock on Moses' door unraveled his world. Durham police were looking for Antoinetta McKoy, a woman reported missing by her family. McKoy, a former high school sweetheart of Moses, had gone to Durham to visit him in December.

Instead, they met Zayna Thomas, another of Moses' girlfriends, who told them an unimaginable tale.

Thomas, identified in court documents as "ZT," told police that Moses killed 5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan, Sisk's son. She also told police that Sisk and another woman, LaRonda Smith, beat McKoy as she tried to escape. She told them that Sisk, under Moses' order, shot and killed McKoy.

Thomas also described a belief system and lifestyle that Durham police have since labeled a cult affiliated with Black Hebrews, a religious sect that believes a race war will culminate in blacks' dominance.

Thomas acknowledged her role in the investigation by phone last week but declined to say more.

Moses' father, Pete Moses Sr., denied the allegations.

"He ain't in no cult," the father said. "Them girls just crazy like that."

According to search warrants, police have found some evidence to suggest foul play inside Moses' house on Pear Tree Lane: spots that looked like blood, a fired bullet and shell casing, and indications that areas of the house had been vigorously cleaned.

Arrests in Durham

As police search drainage ditches and forests for the bodies of McKoy and Jadon, families of the women who've survived want their daughters back in their world.

Willie Harris saw his daughter, Lavada Harris, a week ago for what he said was the first time in nearly a year. She seemed small and frail outside a courtroom at the Durham County jail, where she had come to see Moses appear before a judge.

Harris hugged his daughter and told her to come home. She told her father she loved Moses and needed to take care of some things.

"It's like she can't hear me," Harris said. "Like she's under some sort of spell."